I have a great friend and colleague who often mentions how her creative ideas come to her while she’s in the shower. I only wish. I mean, we shower daily right? – that’s a lot of ideas.
It got me thinking about where and when I notice a jolt of inspiration.
Running. Definitely running. Now, if only I ran everyday like I shower.
So this morning I was feeling inspired to get outside, take in the mountain views and run. Half way in, I kept wondering, where’s the inspiration? And then, I spiraled.
I’m sure you’ve had these days. Where your mind just wants to rehash all the stressfull things that are happening in our lives. Today my thought pattern went something like this…”that hill looks WAY to high. I won’t make it to the top’ and ‘maybe I shouldn’t have taken this time. It’s going to put me behind on the things that REALLY need to get done today and perfect, I’ll be frazzled for the rest of the day’ and so on and so forth. For god knows how long.
And then I randomly made a mental note of where I was on my run. – because I like things I can measure. I clocked how far I’d come and it was farther than I thought! I smiled. I stopped those negative thoughts in their tracks. I made a choice. To not let the details of busy living get in the way of the me-time I’d carved out this morning.
For the rest of the run, I picked 1/8, ¼, ½ of the hills I was climbing up to focus on. A bit at a time and by the time I was done, I had forgot about how ‘hard’ it was and only felt amazing that I’d done it!
So here’s what I’m putting out there today – If today doesn’t feel good.; If you woke up on the wrong side of the bed; If you’re exhausted; If your laundry list of items for the day seems insurmountable. Try this.
Take it piece by piece. Be gentle with yourself. Bite off a bit of the ‘to do’ list first. Accomplish that. Then keep moving forward. Find something in your surroundings that makes you smile and fills your heart (ie your child’s laughter at the kitchen table). Make that coffee and know that I’m right there with you. It can only go up from here.
You’re worth taking the time for. It’ll shift your day going forward. And that’s a step up the hill of life. We all get there one step at a time. You’ve got this lovely souls!